Shenango Penn Mold Co.

In the Matter Of SIIENANGO PENN MOLD COMPANY, SHENANGO FUR- NACE COMPANY, and STEEL WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, ON BEHALF OF THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON. STEEL & TIN WORKERS OF NORTH AMERICA, LODGE 1032 Case No. R-1647.-Decided January 11, 1940 Ingot Mold Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: con- troversy concerning representation of employees : refusal to recognize union- Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: production . and maintenance em- ployees of two Companies, excluding chemists , watchmen, foremen, and time- keepers: common ownership and management , functional interrelation, identical wage policy, single , continuous production operation-Election . Ordered Mr. Robert H. Kleeb, for the Board. Mr. John J. Heard and Mr. Carl E. Glock, both of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Companies. Mr. Benjav?In. C. Sigal, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Union. Mr. Malcolm, A. Hofmann, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On August 15, 1939, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, on be- half of Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, Lodge 1032, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), a petition alleging that question affecting commerce had arisen con- cerning the representation of employees of Shenango Penn Mold Company, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, herein called the Mold Com- pany, and requesting an investigation and certification of representa- tives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On November 1, 1939, the National Labor. Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pur- suant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. 19 N. L. R. B., No. 37. 328 SllENANG0 1i N'N 110LU COMPANY 329 On November 18, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Mold Company and the Union. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on December 1, 1939, at Sharon , Pennsylvania, before Peter F. Ward, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board , the Mold Com- pany, and the Union were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. At the hearing the Union moved to amend its petition to include in the title thereof the Shenango Furnace Company, herein called the Furnace Company, and to include in the alleged appropriate unit employees of both Companies . Counsel for the Mold Company, who also represented the Furnace Company , consented to the latter's thus becoming a party to the proceeding, and waived all technical objections to such procedure, save only an objection that the unit found appropriate by the Board should not include employees of both Companies . The Trial Examiner did not rule on the motion to amend the petition. Such motion is hereby allowed. Full oppor- tunity to be heard, to examine and cross -examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANIES Shenango Penn Mold Company, a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, and with an office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is engaged in the manufacture of ingot molds and stools for consumption by the steel industry. The principal raw materials used by the Mold Company are pig iron, sand, blacking, and miscellaneous foundry materials. During the year 1938 more than 75,000 tons of raw material were purchased by the Mold Company, mostly from sources within the State of Penn- sylvania. During the same year, approximately 74 per cent of its finished product was shipped to points outside the State of Pennsyl- vania. The Mold Company employs about 340 production and main- tenance employees. The Mold Company concedes that it is engaged in interstate commerce. The Mold Company is a subsidiary of the Shenango Furnace Com- pany, a Pennsylvania corporation, which owns a majority of the 330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Mold Company's capital stock. The Furnace Company also main- tains a plant in Sharpsville, and there produces liquid pig iron. The two Companies have the same general plant supervisor and sub- stantially the same board of directors. Their plants are physically interrelated, within the same fence limits, and not more than 500 feet apart. The Companies jointly use a Pittsburgh sales office. The Furnace Company produces liquid pig iron for use by the Mold Company, which consumes its entire output. The liquid pig iron is conveyed in ladles by the Furnace Company's locomotive over the Furnace Company's tracks to the Mold Company's foundry, where it is processed into ingot molds. The processes of the two plants comprise a single, continuous production operation. Iron ore is the chief raw material used by the Furnace Company. Ninety-five per cent of this ore, which is consumed at the rate of •approximately 25,000 tons a month, is shipped by rail from mines near Duluth, Minnesota. The Furnace Company also consumes about 5,000 tons of limestone a month, which has its origin within the State of Pennsylvania. It employs about 176 employees, 11 of whom work for both the Mold and Furnace Companies. The same wage policy obtains at both Companies, and the employees of both Companies are paid by checks of the Furnace Company. IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, Lodge 1032, is a labor organization affiliated with the Con- gress of Industrial Organizations. It is represented by Steel Work- ers Organizing Committee, a labor organization, and admits to membership production and maintenance employees of the two Com- panies, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, time keepers, and watchmen. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION In August of 1939 the Union requested the Mold Company and Furnace Company for recognition as the exclusive representative of the production and maintenance employees of both Companies. Dur- ing the summer of 1939 negotiations between representatives of the Union and both Companies took place, during which the Companies refused to recognize the Union. The Companies later refused to con- sent to an election, and expressed a desire that the Board decide whether or not an election should be held. We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Shenango Penn Mold Company and Shenango Fur- nace. Company. SHFNANGGO PENN MOLD COMPANY 331' IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Companies described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. TI-TE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union contends that the production and maintenance employees of both the Mold Company and the Furnace Company, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Companies contend that a unit encompassing employees of both Companies is inappropriate, but admit that the operations of the two plants constitute a single, continuous production operation. We have already noted the physical proximity of the plants, their functional interrelation, identical wage policy, and common ownership and management.' There is no other labor organization contesting the appropriateness of the unit sought, and since the two Companies operate as a single integrated enterprise, under common financial control, we find the Companies' contention to be without merit,' and shall include the employees of both plants in a single unit. Chemists, watchmen, foremen, including the chip foreman, and timekeepers, are not admitted to membership by the Union. The work of these employees differs substantially from that performed by employees who are admitted to membership in the Union and their interests are different from those of the ordinary production and main- tenance employees. Since their exclusion is desired by the sole labor organization here involved, we shall exclude them from the unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Mold Company and the Furnace Company at their Sha_rpsville plants, ex- cluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, watchmen, fore- went, and timekeepers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to the employees ,of the Companies the full benefit of their right to self-organization and 1 Section I, above. 2 Cf. National Labor Relations Board v. Lund et at. ( Christian A. Lund, doing business as C. A. Lund Company and Northland Ski Manufacturing Company , et al.), 103 F. (2d) 815, (C. C. A, 8 ) ; Matter of Waterman Steamship and Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corporation and Commercial Telegraphers Union, Marine Division , A . F. of L., 10 N. L. R . B. 1079; Matter of Art Crayon Company, Inc ., and its affiliate - company, American Artists Color Works, Inc. and United Artists Supply 11'ork:ers, 7 N . L. R. B. 102. 332 DECISIONS OF NArr].ONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD to collective bargaining and will otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Union asserts that it represents a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit, but does not seek certification without an, elec- tion. Consequently, we find that the question concerning representa- tion can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot, and we shall direct the holding of such an election. Neither the Union nor the Companies expressed a preference as to a date governing eligibility to vote in such election. In accordance with our usual practice, Ave find that those eligible to vote in the elec- tion shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed by the Companies at their Sharpsville plants during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill, on vacation, or temporarily laid off, but exclud- ing employees who have since quit or have been discharged for cause. On the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Shenango Penn Mold Company and She- nango Furnace Company, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All production and maintenance employees of the Companies at their Sharpsville plants, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, watchmen, foremen, and timekeepers, constitute a unit ap- propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, Within the mean. ing of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relation Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Shenango Penn Mold Company and Shenango Furnace Com- pany, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible but not late it than thirty (30) days from SHENLANGO PENN MOLD C0NSPANY 333 the date of this Direction of Election, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all production and maintenance employees at the Sharpsville plants of the Companies who were on the respective pay rolls of the Companies during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation and em- ployees who were then or who shall have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, watch- men, foremen, and timekeepers, and any employees who shall have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, Lodge 1032, for the purpose of collective bargaining.